Increasing Student Engagement and Retention in STEM through advancing Research Experience and Knowledge in Marine Biotechnology

通过提升海洋生物技术的研究经验和知识，提高学生对 STEM 的参与度和保留率

• 批准号: 1928792
• 负责人: Alok Arun
• 金额: $ 201.93万
• 依托单位: Inter American University of Puerto Rico San Juan
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-10-01 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1928792&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Increasing; Student; Engagement; Retention; STEM

ABSTRACTWith support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to increase undergraduate student interest, retention and success in Biological Sciences. This collaborative project at the Barranquitas and Guayama campuses of the Inter American University of Puerto Rico will carry forward the goals of the HSI Program in economically disadvantaged, rural areas of Puerto Rico. The project will target those points along the academic pipeline that represent critical transitions at which students are most likely to switch to non-STEM major or drop-out of college and will do so through innovative changes in STEM teaching and learning. Puerto Rico being an island offers a plethora of opportunities in Marine Biotechnology from the standpoint of research as well as industrial applications. However, there has been very little progress in this direction, chiefly due to a serious lack of educational offerings in the area of marine biotechnology at institutions of higher education in Puerto Rico, which in turn translates into lack of trained personnel in this area. By introducing a minor concentration in Marine Biotechnology, along with an elective course in Blue Chemistry at the undergraduate level, this project aims to revitalize the undergraduate biology program, as well as train undergraduates to assume roles in academia, policy-making and industry. The specific goals of this project are (1) enhancing Hispanic student opportunities attaining degrees in STEM education through critical transition utilizing new courses and curriculum revision; and 2) improving the Hispanic students' STEM learning experience by research/problem-based learning, collaboration between two campuses and modern laboratory activities including a teaching museum. The project will generate new knowledge about how a research-focused learning experience at the undergraduate level combined with the support from tutorial services and faculty trained in modern scientific tools and techniques can contribute to higher retention and degree attainment in STEM. Further, it will generate knowledge about the impact of introducing a minor in an applied, job-oriented area of study, such as Marine Biotechnology, on the number of students choosing a STEM major. In addition, the project will assess if and how a community science center such as a marine museum can encourage high school students to enroll in STEM courses in college. The effectiveness of these interventions will be evaluated through a mixed-methods evaluation and will include a combination of the before-and-after study design and both quantitative and qualitative methods providing data for both formative and summative evaluation. The findings of this project will be disseminated widely through symposia, publications and through a dedicated website. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these goals.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

摘要与改善本科STEM教育的支持：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI计划），该曲目1项目旨在增加学生对生物科学的兴趣，保留和成功。这项在波多黎各的美国国际大学的Barranquitas和Guayama校园中的合作项目将推进波多黎各经济上不利的农村地区的HSI计划。该项目将沿着学术渠道沿着重要的过渡为目标，在该过程中，学生最有可能改用大学的非茎大或辍学，并通过STEM教学的创新变化来做到这一点。波多黎各是一个岛屿，从研究的角度和工业应用中，为海洋生物技术提供了许多机会。但是，在这个方向上的进展很少，这主要是由于波多黎各高等教育机构的海洋生物技术领域严重缺乏教育产品，这反过来又转化为在该领域缺乏训练有素的人员。通过引入海洋生物技术的小集中，以及本科一级的蓝色化学课程，该项目旨在振兴本科生物学计划，并培训本科生在学术界，政策制定和工业中扮演角色。该项目的具体目标是（1）利用新课程和课程修订来增强西班牙裔学生的机会获得STEM教育学位的机会； 2）通过研究/基于问题的学习，两个校园和现代实验室活动（包括教学博物馆）之间的合作来改善西班牙裔学生的STEM学习经验。该项目将产生有关如何在本科层面的研究中心学习经验以及在现代科学工具和技术培训的教职员工的支持下，如何有助于STEM中的更高保留和学位成就。此外，它将对在适用的，以工作为导向的研究领域（例如海洋生物技术）对选择STEM专业的学生人数等研究领域的影响产生知识。此外，该项目将评估社区科学中心（例如海洋博物馆）如何以及如何鼓励高中生参加大学的STEM课程。这些干预措施的有效性将通过混合方法评估进行评估，并将包括前后研究设计的组合以及定量和定性方法，为形成性和总结性评估提供了数据。该项目的发现将通过研讨会，出版物和专门的网站广泛传播。 HSI计划旨在增强本科STEM教育并在HSIS的建立能力。 HSI计划支持的项目还将为如何实现这些目标提供新的知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准，被视为值得通过评估来获得支持。